Chapter 1
Vanessa James was cryogenically frozen in 2017. She was thawed out fifty years later, in 2067, to a radically different world. How different? The world in 2067 is populated almost exclusively by nudists.
Vanessa was a lab assistant in 2017 for Dr. Freon, who worked on what he called "long term stasis...mumbojumbo something". She'd never really liked science but Dr. Freon was an attractive boss and she needed a job.
She remembered the job interview was not exactly normal. Neither was Dr. Freon, who the front desk receptionist affectionately called, "Nibbles." Vanessa didn't know what lab assistants wore to interviews, so a yellow sundress was as good as anything else to wear.
Thin with curves, blond, blue-gray-eyed, she was not as confident as perhaps she should have been. She had full lips, that along with her striking eyes would have made any man melt, had she ever taken the time to learn how to pout. Her last boyfriend cheated on her quite maliciously and she'd done everything for him. His laundry, his cooking, and she even cleaned his apartment.
Sexually, she was very shy, modest, with one too many nerves and practically no appetite to try anything new or different. No appetite, that is, that she knew of. However, she made sure two or three times a week to provide her ex, Alex, some sexual pleasure. She'd put those lips to good use and would often initiate. Alex never had to pry or prod or complain.
And yet, the way many relationships go, Alex lost interest and moved on to other, but not better, women. After the ugliness of the betrayal and break-up was over he'd attempted half-assedly to explain himself:
"You made it too easy, Vanessa. A man needs to go after the girl, the girl needs to play a little hard to get. Then she has to be gotten. You never really wanted to do anything different in bed. You know the things I like. But every time, it was just missionary, that's it."
"Some girls don't even do THAT!" she'd yelled back, thinking a million thoughts before driving away from him forever. One of those thoughts was, "it's not MY fault you have such a big dick. The damn thing hurts!"
Vanessa's friend Jane ("Plain Jane" was a rude nickname the neighborhood boys used to call her in high school, before she had her late blossoming) was also a lab assistant and had recommended her for the position. Dr. Freon was very interested, based on Jane's description of her friend.
Dr. Freon was relatively tall, 6'2" with broad shoulders and very dark Latin features. No one in the lab could peg his nationality. He was divorced, twice, and each marriage he was caught cheating. But the divorce was his initiation. Both his wives forgave him for the transgressions, and saw the cheating as something they'd done. It had to be, right?
During the interview, which took place in his closed office, Dr. Freon poured a Scotch and offered Vanessa some. Thinking she might upset him if she didn't take it, she thanked him and knocked it back to keep up the pace.
"This interview is just a formality, Miss James. Jane told me a lot about you. You can read, alphabetize, and you have a fully functioning brain. That's really all that's needed to do this job."
"I don't know how well my brain's functioning, Dr. Freon," Vanessa said, feeling woozy, and very different than usual. She didn't usually drink, because every time she did, bad things happened with men. Every time.
"Why is the interview so late in the day?" she asked after an hourlong conversation of them getting to know each other better. What schools they went to, what their past relationships were like, what they fancied in another person. They covered a lot in an hour.
It was 5:30 and the lab had been closed a half hour already, the receptionist leaving promptly at 5 o'clock. "It was my earliest appointment today," Dr. Freon said, smiling impishly.
He walked over to her to pour her another drink. He'd happened to glance down the front of her sundress and noticed she wasn't wearing a bra. Who wears sundresses with bras anyway? You don't want other people seeing your bra, that's just unsophisticated. Better for people to see your nipples than your bra.
He looked down and saw the cusp of pink-ness of her areola, the border hastily drawn around it. Her nipples were slightly puffy as she hunched over the desk, waiting for the drink. When it didn't come, she looked up, only to see Dr. Freon perusing her chest.
He'd jumped back, trying to think of an excuse, realizing it was too soon to show interest- the promise of sex must be cultivated, the man must pursue, must show his colored feathers, and the woman must find them pleasantly overwhelming.
However, something came over Vanessa that moment, and she flung herself into his arms, recognizing his interest right away. It'd been almost 8 months since she'd had sex, and she didn't realize how much she was missing it.